There's a reason most poker games are played with the cards face down. Good players can go hours raking pots without ever having to reveal their hand.

The San Diego State Aztecs should not have to show all of their cards against the first team of the 2010 season, Nicholls State, which travels to Qualcomm Stadium for a 5 p.m. kickoff Saturday.

Unlike today's game, where the Aztecs can probably slow-play their hand to victory -- there are tougher games on the horizon in which offensive coordinator Al Borges will be forced to dig into his bag of tricks. This is not -- should not -- be one of those games.

"I wouldn't do that in the first game no matter who we were playing," Borges said. "You never want to show everything you've got in the first game of the year. We're basically going to run what we've practiced and we'll do that every week."

In other words, keep it simple.

"I think we'll do some things to mix it up, but as an offense, we're going to do what we do well and we'll do it until someone stops us," said quarterback Ryan Lindley.

Therein lies the dilemma, because Lindley could chuck the ball around 50 times to standout receivers Vincent Brown and DeMarco Sampson and probably put up some pretty good numbers. But the Aztecs don't' want to be that kind of team anymore.

They want balance. They want to grind. They want to bang.

Three game day questions

Each Saturday, beat writer Kevin Gemmell will pose three questions pertinent to the game of the day. Look for the answers on Sunday.

Can the Aztecs start fast?

Last year SDSU averaged just 16.8 yards on its opening drive.

Can the Aztecs run the ball?

Last year SDSU averaged just 78.3 yards per game.

Can the Aztecs control the clock?

Last year SDSU ranked 108th in time of possession with an average of 27:47 minutes per game.

"After every game, we want the other team to be sore, tired and they're not going to want to play us again," said defensive end Earnie Lawson.

The strength of Nicholls State lies in its defensive line and the Aztecs are eager to try out their allegedly-upgraded rushing attack -- which has been among the nation's worst the last few years -- and new running back Ronnie Hillman, who is talented but untested.

The Aztecs would much rather string together four or five 12-play, 80-yard drives that suck up six minutes of clock as opposed to three-play, 80-yard drives that take 35 seconds. But can they?

"The biggest thing with us at this point is execution," Borges said. "We don't want to confuse the kids. We had a lot of that last year, which is natural because it's new. This year, we should have a lot less of that."

However head coach Brady Hoke said he doesn't mind if the Aztecs show their entire playbook in the first week if that means getting a win.

"When you're still in transition, that's not part of the conversation," he said. "We have the whole offense installed. We have the whole defense installed. If we have to go to something else, we have the flexibility to do that. I never have looked at going into a game that way."

The Aztecs are traditionally tough in home openers, 60-23-4 all-time and 30-10-1 in the Division I Era (since 1969). They face a small school coming off a 3-8 season with a new head coach and a new offensive scheme. If ever there was a team to grind on, this is it.

But many on this Aztecs roster remember all too well losing games they "should" have won. Defensive coordinator Rocky Long has said, on more than one occasion, that last year's team was "afraid to win."

"We'd put ourselves in a good spot, and then they'd freeze up," Long said.

So have the Aztecs purged the meltdown gene from their DNA?

"The true test will be if we're in that situation again -- that's when we'll find out what type of team we are," Lawson said. "We feel like the coaches have prepared us. We feel like we can grind a team out and do what we have to do to win. So to answer your question, I'd like to think so."